


Pokémon Dream

by brightpinkballerina



Series: Family Matters [7]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: F/M, Family, Fluff and Humor, Future Fic, Humor, Married Couple, Married Life, Memories, Original Character(s), Pokemon Day 2021, Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-19 00:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29742138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightpinkballerina/pseuds/brightpinkballerina
Summary: After their children have a discussion about what they want to be when they grow up, Ash and Misty reflect on their own childhood dreams and how far they've come. In celebration of Pokémon's 25th anniversary.
Relationships: Kasumi | Misty/Satoshi | Ash Ketchum
Series: Family Matters [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1785139
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	Pokémon Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Can you guys believe that today is Pokémon's 25th anniversary? I know I can't! It's really crazy that Pokémon has been such a big part of my life, and for most of it too. So, I wanted to celebrate the day the best way I know how: by sharing a story!
> 
> Aiden and Michelle: 6 years old
> 
> Elizabeth: 6 months old

“When I grow up, I’m going to be the Pokémon Master!”

“Yeah, we know. You talk about it _all the time_. But how are you gonna beat Daddy?”

“Easy. I’ll be better than him!”

“How?”

“By working hard.”

“You never do that for _anything_.”

Aiden scowled at his twin sister, who was sporting quite the sardonic look in response. “Yeah I do!”

“Oh yeah? For what?” Michelle challenged, leaning forward in her seat with a mischievous smile on her face.

“At baseball and at learning all about Pokémon and at eating,” Aiden replied without hesitation or missing a beat. After all, he knew exactly what he was talking about.

“You don’t have to work hard at eating,” Michelle scoffed. “You need to do that to live.”

“Yeah but _I_ work really hard at it!” Aiden argued. “I like it, and I always try to eat more food because it’ll make me bigger and stronger like Dad.”

“Nuh uh, it just makes you a big Grumpig,” Michelle refuted with a disgusted expression.

“Hey!”

“Oh, my goodness, what are you two fighting about now?”

Aiden looked over his shoulder and frowned. “We’re not fighting.”

Misty raised an eyebrow, the baby in her arms giggling at the change in her mother’s expression. “Well you’re certainly being loud enough. That usually means you’re arguing.”

“I only yelled because Michelle called me a big Grumpig!” Aiden cried.

“Michelle!” Misty scolded, glaring at her shamefaced daughter. “That’s very rude! Apologize to your brother.”

“But- “

“No buts,” Misty interrupted. “Apologize.”

Letting out a short huff, Michelle turned towards Aiden and curtly spit out, “sorry.”

It clearly wasn’t genuine, but Misty wasn’t about to keep pushing. After all, Aiden and Michelle were siblings, and just kids at that. They both argued and said plenty of things to one another that weren’t exactly nice, but they didn’t really mean. And as long as one of them wasn’t _actually_ upset or physically hurt, Misty didn’t think it was worth it to exacerbate the problem.

One of the more valuable lessons she’d learned from growing up with three older sisters, she supposed.

“I was talking -bout how I’m gonna be the Pokémon Master when I grow up!” Aiden exclaimed.

Misty smirked. Yeah, he definitely wasn’t all that bothered by his sister’s jab. “Were you?” 

“Uh huh,” Aiden chirped. “You think I have to work really hard if I wanna beat Daddy, right?”

“Yes, I do,” Misty agreed. “You _always_ have to work really hard if you want to make your dreams come true! Michelle has to work hard too if she wants to become a top coordinator.”

“Like training my Pokémon and stuff?” Michelle asked.

“Exactly,” Misty giggled. “May and Dawn always tell you about the things they have to do, don’t they?”

“Yeah,” Michelle confirmed. “It’s a lot!”

“It is,” Misty replied. “Daddy and I always have lots to do! And even though we both reached our goals, and we’re all grown up, we still have to keep working hard. If you don’t, someone else will work harder and beat you!”

Elizabeth followed up her mother’s comment with a shrill screech, causing Aiden and Michelle to wince.

“Oh, you’re working hard already!” Misty laughed. “And trying to upstage everyone too, I think. You’re probably just getting tired of being inside. Why don’t we all go outside and get some fresh air?”

“Okay!” Aiden cheered, leaping off his chair and running for the back door. Michelle was quick to follow, and before Misty could even get outside herself, the two of them had already hightailed it to the swing set. 

Nearby, Vaporeon was training herself, practicing her moves and dodging in graceful fashion. Psyduck was there as well, having excitedly offered himself up as Vaporeon’s training partner, although Misty wasn’t sure why, since it seemed that all Psyduck was doing was running away from Vaporeon’s attacks.

That particular scene had caught Elizabeth’s attention, however, and the baby was positively transfixed, giggling wildly every time Psyduck would frantically try to escape from a myriad of hydro pumps and ice beams.

“Psyduck sure is funny, huh?” Misty cooed to the baby, taking a seat on the patio couch and sitting the little girl on her lap. “Look at him go! He can move pretty fast when he wants to.”

After making one particularly sharp turn, Psyduck saw that Misty was now outside and sitting in a _much_ more harmless spot. After a short moment of deliberation, the duck Pokémon hurriedly waddled over to her, quacking out a string of panicked “psy! Psy! Psy!”

That only made Elizabeth laugh harder. Misty, on the other hand, sighed and reached out to place her hand on Psyduck’s forehead in order to stop the goofy water type from running directly into the couch. “Psyduck, why in the world would you volunteer to train with Vaporeon? You’re always terrified of her attacks!”

Looking up at his trainer, Psyduck tilted his head and muttered, “psy aye.”

Exhaling once again, Misty decided, “alright, you stay here with me and Lizzie. You can watch Vaporeon from a safe distance!”

Psyduck said nothing in response, but he did turn in a small circle so he was facing out towards the yard before plopping himself down. Cooing curiously, Elizabeth leaned over and reached for Psyduck’s head, managing to grab his three springs of hair and yank at them in one swift motion. 

“Elizabeth, no!” Misty scolded, gently grabbing the baby’s wrist and pulling her little hand away from Psyduck’s hair. “Don’t do that!”

But Psyduck didn’t seem to have any reaction to it. He just continued to sit there without so much as making a peep. Misty had to admit that she was impressed, considering she knew firsthand how much it hurt when Elizabeth tugged at your hair.

After about 30 seconds, however, Psyduck jumped up nearly a foot in the air and started yelping, uncontrollably running around the same way he had when he was trying to avoid getting hit by Vaporeon’s moves.

“Right, I should’ve figured…” Misty muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Elizabeth, meanwhile, was turning her head to follow Psyduck, still laughing wildly at the water type. When he ran behind the couch and Elizabeth turned her head that way, however, her laughter stopped and she instead grew wide eyed.

“Dada!”

Humming, Misty glanced over at Elizabeth and frowned. “This again? Lizzie, I wish you would stop calling me that! Daddy gets _way_ too much enjoyment out of it.”

“Dada,” Elizabeth repeated, still looking over her mother’s shoulder.

Raising an eyebrow, Misty twisted the same way just in time to see Ash halfway stumble down the patio steps.

“Wow, you were _actually_ talking about Daddy,” Misty muttered, surprise evident in her voice.

Looking up at Misty, Ash grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. “Alright, you caught me!”

“Hard not to, between Elizabeth blowing your cover and you nearly falling flat on your face,” Misty snickered, watching as Pikachu darted out from behind Ash and playfully pounced on Psyduck. “What was that about? Did the kids leave their toys there again?”

“No, I tripped over my own feet,” Ash begrudgingly admitted. “I was _trying_ to sneak up and surprise you…major fail.” He sat down beside Misty and leaned over to rub his nose against Elizabeth’s, sending the baby back into a fit of giggles. “You can’t ever let Daddy get away with _anything_ , can you?”

Smiling, Misty quipped, “Something tells me that this kid is never going to be able to keep a secret.”

“I think Mommy is right,” Ash informed Elizabeth. Dropping his voice to a whisper, he added, “but I’m still gonna tell you secrets anyway and never learn my lesson!”

“Sounds about right,” Misty chirped. Turning her head to look over at the swing set, she was relieved to see that Aiden and Michelle were still happily playing together.

“Those two haven’t been fighting again, have they?”

Misty blinked and looked back over at Ash, who was smirking. Of _course_ , he knew they had been. Anyone who knew the twins could’ve told you that, and she and Ash were the experts.

“Yeah, but nothing too serious,” Misty sighed. “I’ve broken up much worse.”

“I’m sure,” Ash chuckled. He knew just as well as Misty how testy the twins could get with one another and had intervened in a fair amount of arguments himself. He might not have understood the arguments as well as Misty, having been an only child and all, but he was still a big help when things got testy.

“They were talking about what they want to be when they grow up, and how they have to work hard to get there,” Misty explained.

Ash inclined his head. “That’s what they were fighting about?”

“No,” Misty refuted. “ _That_ conversation was cute! Michelle called Aiden a name. I don’t think it was related to what they were talking about, but with those two I can never be sure. Either way, I made Michelle apologize, and Aiden didn’t seem bothered by it anyway. He was too focused on talking about becoming the next Pokémon Master.”

Ash laughed heartily at that. “Well, it _is_ probably his favorite thing to talk about! He reminds me almost every single day that I can’t lose until he’s old enough to challenge me.”

“ _Then_ you can lose,” Misty giggled.

“That’d be fine with him,” Ash continued to chuckle. “But I always tell Aiden I’m not going to let him off easy! I won’t just let him win because I’m his dad.”

Misty smiled. “You know, even though he’s still pretty young, I have a feeling he’d never want you to do that anyway. He was quite serious when he talked about putting in all that hard work to become the Pokémon Master!”

“I think you’re right,” Ash agreed. “He never takes the easy way out! I’m proud of him for that.”

“Michelle seems to have the same mindset,” Misty commented. “Remember when she was younger? She _never_ used to want to put herself out there like that and was always so afraid. It shows how much she’s grown up!”

Ash showed off a wide, toothy grin. “They’re going to be such amazing trainers when they’re older. I just know it!”

“You would know,” Misty stated.

Ash paused to think for a short moment before asking, “was that sarcastic?”

“Nope,” Misty replied, shaking her head. “Genuine. If there’s anyone who should be trusted with those kinds of opinions, it’s you.”

With that, Ash’s smile returned. “Because I’m the Pokémon Master, right?”

“No, because you always tell me how good of a gym leader I am.”

Ash smiled sarcastically, causing Misty to burst out laughing. Elizabeth looked back and forth between her parents, visibly confused by their banter. Either way, it wasn’t funny, not like Psyduck was, or when her father tripped, and she was pretty much done with it. “Ma! Mama!”

Misty gasped and turned her attention onto Elizabeth. The baby was looking right at her, an irritated expression plastered on her face. “Aw, you actually called me Mama! Probably just because you’re grumpy, but I’ll take it!”

“She calls you that all the time,” Ash piped up, raising an eyebrow.

“No, she _says_ it all the time,” Misty corrected him. “But most of the time, she looks me dead in the eyes and calls me ‘Dada.’ You know this because you laugh hysterically every time she does it.”

Ash smirked. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Turning Elizabeth around so she was facing her, Misty cooed, “you’re letting me know you’re unhappy, little girl? Is that it?”

“Mama ma…ma,” Elizabeth babbled, waving her arms up and down.

“She’s very vocal,” Ash noted. “Just _like_ her mama!”

“That’s a good thing,” Misty huffed before beaming at Elizabeth. “You’re a girl who knows what she wants, and I think you’re going to be _just_ as determined as your big brother and sister! And just as good of a Pokémon trainer, if you want to be one.”

“Of course, she’ll want to become a Pokémon trainer!” Ash exclaimed. “She’s our daughter. She’s got Pokémon trainer blood coursing through her veins!”

“Do you?” Misty cooed to the baby, who had gone back to smiling. “You have Pokémon trainer blood?”

Elizabeth giggled, and Misty couldn’t help but to wrap the baby up into a hug.

“Well, someone is going to have to carry on all of those great traditions once we’re old and stuff!” Ash avowed. “Why not our kids?”

Misty’s eyebrows lifted. “Us? Old? Never!”

“Funny, because Aiden and Michelle already think we’re ancient,” Ash grumbled, shaking his head.

Smirking, Misty replied, “that’s because they have no sense of time. They somehow think we’re like..13 and about to break our hips all at the same time. It’s definitely insulting, but also kind of amusing. I can’t _totally_ get mad at them for it.”

“Did you ever think about adults that way when you were a kid?” Ash mused. “And I don’t mean when you were as young as Aiden and Michelle. Like…when we were traveling together, and we’d meet gym leaders…did you think that they were _way_ older than they were?”

“Truthfully? Yeah,” Misty admitted, sounding a bit embarrassed about it. “Looking back on it now, it’s _especially_ weird because I work with a lot of them. But when I was a young, naïve trainer, I really thought a lot of the gym leaders we met were much older than they were. And that’s coming from someone who grew up in a gym leader family and then became a gym leader herself. I can only imagine what trainers today think when they show up to the gym and see me. Probably not much differently than our own kids. What about you?”

“I was the same way,” Ash chuckled lowly before wondering aloud, “I wonder if other kids think the same when they see me battling, too. Or on TV. I think it’s cool how popular I am with young trainers, but I bet they think I’m super old too. It’s _so_ weird.”

“Everything about being an adult is weird, honestly,” Misty laughed dryly. “Sometimes I wish I could go back to being a kid! Things always seemed a lot easier then. But still…there are lots of things that are great about being an adult, too.”

“Like what?” Ash chirped, resting his head on Misty’s shoulder and fluttering his eyelashes.

Playfully rolling her eyes, Misty responded, “you know: our children, having jobs we love, being able to eat ice cream whenever we want…”

“Hang on, I’m lower on the list than _ice cream?!_ ” Ash huffed, his tone managing to get Elizabeth giggling all over again.

“No, obviously not,” Misty snickered. “You weren’t even on the list!”

“Ha ha,” Ash droned, showing off a lopsided smile. “You’re _so_ funny, Mist.”

“I know,” Misty trilled. “It’s just one of the reasons why you love me! I’ve got lots of reasons why I love you, too, and appreciating my sarcastic humor is only one of them.”

Ash lifted his head back up to kiss Misty on the cheek, widening her grin in the process. “Does that mean you’ll still love me when we’re actually old and our kids are out of the house traveling the world, making all of those big dreams of theirs come true?”

After a long groan, Misty whined, “I don’t want to think about that!”

“Come on,” Ash pressed. “Don’t you think it’ll be so exciting to see what they all do once they grow up?”

“Definitely!” Misty agreed, her voice softening. “I’m just not ready to rush there. They’re still my sweet little babies and I want to keep them that way for as long as I possibly can! Right, Lizzie?”

Elizabeth didn’t respond, instead flopping down against her mother’s body and cooing softly.

“Pretty sure that’s her way of saying yes,” Ash chuckled. “Guess cuddles are a lot more fun than thinking about your future when you’re a baby!”

Looking up with twinkling eyes, Misty conceded, “they’re actually a lot more fun as an adult, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> For this one, I really liked the idea of showing off the kids' mindset vs. the adults'. It's pretty funny how much differently you think about things at different ages, and I bet it wouldn't be much different in the Pokémon world!
> 
> Hopefully this story brought back happy memories of all of your experiences with Pokémon as well!


End file.
